As well as good absorptive properties, primary requirements of absorbent articles are good fit and comfort coupled with the need to prevent leakage of any received bodily waste. To this effect, contemporary absorbent articles are provided with elastically extensible regions around the leg openings to thereby create a gusset around each leg when the article is worn. Typically, the elastically extensible regions are created by applying elastic threads under tension to a substrate and affixing the elastic threads in a stretched condition to the substrate. When the tension is released, the elastic threads contract and gather the substrate. It is also known to provide waist portions of such absorbent articles with elastically extensible regions to thereby improve the fit of the article to the user. Again, such regions may be created by the provision of elastic threads or, alternatively, elastic strips.
Similarly, the fit of pull-up type garments is enhanced if side panel regions are made from elastically extensible material.
In an attempt to improve the dynamic fit of an absorbent article, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,895 to provide an absorbent article with a single piece of extensible material which is folded such that the extensible material extends throughout both side panels, the waist region and at least a portion of the crotch region. By suitable folding, the direction of extensibility of the material can be determined such that the material is extensible in the longitudinal direction of the article in the crotch region and in the transverse direction in the waist region. However, it is not apparent how such folding can be carried out at high production speeds.
Although many contemporary absorbent articles provide adequate fit and comfort, they demand complicated methods of manufacture. For example, the elastification of regions by means of elastic threads requires the provision of a plurality of threads and machinery which is able to apply the threads in a tensioned state to absorbent articles at high production speeds. The threads are invariably affixed to the absorbent articles by means of adhesive, something which is potentially messy and which inhibits the breathability of the finished article.